Bringing back the love of Poster Art is something avid art-lovers should get into. Any poster artist has their own style whether it be chaotic drawings, machinist-future style outlay or, my current favourite, comic-book style. Is it possible represent Spider-Man fighting one of your friends? You know it is!

Photos:
here

Jack Dylan, poster artist and general artist, brought his genre of comic-style art down the 401, up the stairs and onto the walls of the Whipper Snapper Gallery. Dylan's work usually outputs in-relation to real-life people converted by the hands and mind of Dylan into clean, and most-definitely enjoyable works. Some posters involved pictures of close friends who, for example, were involved in a comic strip on how to get a girl (all failing to do so, by the way).

Other posters were of random ideas that Dylan might have seen around Montreal such as a girl walking down the street in the winter. If it wasn't a poster, it was a giant portrait. One portrait consisted of Samuel L. Jackson, naked and wrapped in snakes with a gun-in-hand. Another was a layer-upon-layer work with strong, bold colours and fantastic detail. As chaotic was it was, I couldn't tear myself away from it. Take a look at what part of it looks like: click

The music portion of the evening began with Graham Van Pelt, also known as Miracle Fortress (member of Think About Life). Van Pelt spent nearly an hour setting up for his set making sure every pedal was working, every mic was picking up sound and so forth. He began with a wig of curly hair and classic Serpico shades on. He plugged in an MP3 player and started playing melodies over and with the music. Miracle Fortress is an experimental solo project which is dependent on looping AND pre-recorded sounds. Van Pelt also uses a guitar and drums to support his act. Although at most times it was difficult to hear what he was singing, Van Pelt's Miracle Fortress fully demonstrated his project's ability to compile new-age melodies with extraordinary ambiance and sound. I did pick up his 5-track EP entitled 'Watery Grave' and I'm loving every second of it. For fans of Think About Life, you would enjoy this. It shoots in a different direction than TAL, but the direction is definitely going upward.

The only other act I could catch after Miracle Fortress was The Adam Brown at The Drake. They are heartthrobs. You think being a guy restricts me from saying this, but it doesn't! Also, all the girls surround the the lip of the stage makes it fairly evident that they are eye-candy and rock-candy. For the first time ever, I did not go deaf at an Adam Brown show. This band, once folky & laid back and now stadium rockers, played with sensible sound but still the same lighting-rush that they feed from each other every time they take the stage. Shawn Petsche, guitarist to the side, loves to stand out for all to see. No, he's not hogging the spotlight. He's exchanging energy with the crowd and the band. For anyone who have seen The Adam Brown, they're not a band who likes to sit still. Their new drummer, who goes by the name Iris, didn't move much out of her little seat but was a definite force to be reckoned with -- a fantastic addition to the band.

Going back to the artist: For those who want to see and/or purchase Jack Dylan's work, it will remain at the Whipper Snapper Gallery (587A College St.) until December 1st. Most of his posters cost $5. The portraits of a larger size start from $50.